Secret Service – Judicial Watchhttps://www.judicialwatch.org
Because no one is above the law!Mon, 19 Mar 2018 19:09:30 +0000en-UShourly1Judicial Watch Sues for Secret Service Trump Travel-Expense Recordshttps://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-secret-service-trump-travel-expense-records/
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 21:21:59 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?post_type=press_release&p=93566Judicial Watch Files Suit after Agency Ignored Nine Separate Freedom of Information Act Requests (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Secret Service travel-expense records related to expenses incurred protecting President Trump and his family while they traveled...

(Washington, DC) –Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Secret Service travel-expense records related to expenses incurred protecting President Trump and his family while they traveled between June and October 2017 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:18-cv-00161)).

Judicial Watch filed suit after the Secret Service, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, failed to respond to nine separate FOIA requests for records regarding:

The Secret Service records document costs for meals, hotels, air/rail, car rentals and other incidentals incurred by the Service while providing protection of the president and his family when they are on personal or political travel.

On January 19, Judicial Watch released travel records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force in response to a FOIA request for President Donald Trump and his family. The total costs for President Trump’s travels recorded in this document production amounted to $3,199,188.30. Added to the previously released costs, the known political and leisure travel costs for President Trump and his family now amount to $13,533,937.28.

“The Secret Service secrecy on presidential travel (for both President Obama and President Trump) is inexcusable,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is ridiculous that we have to continue filing federal lawsuits to prod the Secret Service to produce simple expense information about the costs of presidential travel.”

This is not the first time Judicial Watch has been forced to file suit against the Department of Homeland Security for failing to respond to FOIA requests for presidential travel-expense records. While monitoring travel for President Obama and his family, Judicial Watch has encountered continuous resistance to FOIA requests. Between July 21, 2014 and November 10, 2015, the Secret Service failed to respond to 19 separate FOIA requests seeking records of security-related expenses for travel by Barack Obama and other VIPs. On November 10, 2015, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking the court to enjoin the Secret Service from continuing to withhold responsive documents from Judicial Watch (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:15-cv-01983)). Judicial Watch filed a related lawsuit on May 6, 2016 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:16-cv-0863)) after the Secret Service failed to respond to five (5) additional travel-related FOIA requests. Judicial Watch appealed the District Court’s dismissal of its claim that the agency has a policy and practice of violating FOIA’s procedural requirements in connection with processing of Judicial Watch’s FOIA requests. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard argument on Judicial Watch’s policy and practices claim on September 15, 2017.

To date, Judicial Watch has uncovered total travel expenses of the Obamas amounting to $114,691,322.17.

]]>JW Probe: Secret Service Loses Guns, Badges, Laptops, “Other Equipment”https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/11/jw-probe-secret-service-loses-guns-badges-laptops-equipment/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/11/jw-probe-secret-service-loses-guns-badges-laptops-equipment/#respondThu, 17 Nov 2016 16:52:43 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=84589The U.S. Secret Service has lost thousands of agency computers, radios, cell phones, weapons, credentials and vehicles since Islamic terrorists executed the worst attack in U.S. history, records obtained by Judicial Watch show. The equipment was reported lost or stolen by the Secret Service, which claims to be one of the most elite law enforcement

]]>The U.S. Secret Service has lost thousands of agency computers, radios, cell phones, weapons, credentials and vehicles since Islamic terrorists executed the worst attack in U.S. history, records obtained by Judicial Watch show. The equipment was reported lost or stolen by the Secret Service, which claims to be one of the most elite law enforcement organizations in the world with responsibilities that include protecting, not only the president, but also national and visiting foreign leaders as well as conducting criminal investigations.

Judicial Watch requested the records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) almost a year ago as part of an ongoing investigation into the scandal-plagued Secret Service. The information was finally provided this month and it most certainly depicts behavior unbecoming of an elite law enforcement agency. Since 2001 dozens of weapons and pistols have gone missing, hundreds of agent badges and cell phones as well as scores of laptop and desktop computers and six agency motor vehicles. Labeled “lost and stolen assets” by the Secret Service, the records are broken down by year and type of equipment missing. Two categories are somewhat vague and neither includes records before 2009. One, titled “other equipment,” reveals the loss of 793 items since 2009. The other, listed as “office equipment,” shows the loss of 201 items during the same period.

The agency had an especially humiliating year in 2004 when 1,362 items were recorded as lost or stolen, the records show. Radio equipment led with 191 lost items in addition to 53 laptops, 53 desktop computers, 26 badges and 25 cell phones, among others. In 2002 the Secret Service lost 1,179 items, including a disturbing number of weapons (69) and badges (40). Keep in mind that was the year following the 9/11 terrorist attacks! In 2014 the agency reported 1,032 items lost or stolen, among them hundreds of pieces of information technology equipment, 142 cell phones and a motor vehicle. In 2010 the records list 1,001 disappeared items, including dozens of badges, computers and cell phones. Some of the categories are too general and don’t offer specific descriptions of the equipment, but enough information is provided in the records to illustrate the severity of the negligence. Except for 2013 the Secret Service has lost more than 100 information technology items every year since 2009. For the portion of 2016 that’s been reported, the agency has already lost eight badges. In 2015 it was 18 and in 2014 it lost 25 badges.

The Secret Service has been rocked by several scandals in the last few years, including one that Judicial Watch uncovered last summer. Known as “Operation Moonlight” and “Operation Moonshine,” agents were covertly redeployed from the White House compound to protect a close friend of the agency’s then director during a dispute with a neighbor. Judicial Watch obtained government records containing details of the illicit operation, which occurred under former Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan. His good friend and administrative assistant at the time, Lisa Chopey, was embroiled in a discord with a neighbor in her rural community of La Plata, Maryland and the Secret Service surreptitiously redeployed agents assigned to guard the White House to protect Chopey and conduct undercover surveillance of the problematic neighbor.

Other Secret Service transgressions have made headlines in the last few years. Besides drunken agents plowing a government vehicle into a White House security gate, a dozen agents brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms during a 2012 world leaders’ summit attended by President Obama. A mainstream news outlet called the incident a debauchery that caused an uproar and surprised many who previously regarded Secret Service agents as a highly disciplined force of dark sunglasses, earpieces and unreadable facial expressions. The Secret Service suffered another major blow when a psychologically disturbed man with a knife jumped over the White House fence and ran across the North Lawn, into the executive mansion and to the entrance of the East Room. Last year a drone flew over the White House and landed in an area that’s supposed to be secure. The device was described as a quadcopter drone and the Secret Service told media outlets that it crash-landed in a tree on the southeast side of the complex around 3 a.m.

]]>Following shameful debacles involving Secret Service agents getting drunk and hiring prostitutes during foreign travel details a federal audit is recommending that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) develop a policy for off-duty conduct abroad. The Secret Service inspired the probe but many other DHS agencies—including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration (TSA)—also have a substantial number of employees that travel and work in other countries. Apparently, the belief is that specific rules banning drunken sex scandals could help avoid more public embarrassments, though it’s difficult to imagine that members of an elite law enforcement agency don’t already know this.

“Off-duty misconduct can undermine the Department’s credibility and integrity and hinder its ability to achieve its mission,” the DHS Inspector General writes in a report issued a few days ago. “Our objective was to determine whether DHS has adequate policies and training governing off-duty conduct while abroad.” The answer is no, but you’d think common sense would kick in absent written rules. As we have seen in the last few years that hasn’t been the case. In 2012 a dozen Secret Service agents deployed to Cartagena, Colombia for President Obama’s world leaders’ summit trip engaged in wild partying that included lots of booze and hookers. A few years later a drunken Secret Service agent preparing for Obama’s visit to Amsterdam was found passed out in a hotel hallway after a night of partying.

“Neither DHS nor the six DHS components with the largest international presence have comprehensive policies and training to govern employees’ off-duty conduct while abroad,” the agency watchdog reveals. “DHS has some limited, department-wide policies for off-duty conduct in general, but they do not specifically address employee conduct abroad; the six components’ policies do not cover some aspects of conduct, such as drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and using drugs. DHS as a whole does not offer training in off-duty conduct for employees traveling and working abroad. One component offers training to those working abroad, but only one of the six offers training to both travelers and those working abroad.” In 2015, the agency had nearly 1,500 employees working in 80 countries, according to the audit.

There have been a number of domestic incidents as well. Agents crashed a car in the Florida Keys during an Obama family vacation and top-ranking Secret Service officials—including a member of the president’s personal detail—crashed their government vehicle into a White House security gate after a night of drinking. Could this be why in its official response to the report, DHS “disagreed with the underlying premise that any conduct policy covering DHS employees must specifically state it applies to off-duty conduct while traveling or working abroad.” It’s not clear if the agency wants to broaden the rules to apply domestically as well or if it simply doesn’t want to deal with the disgraceful off-duty conduct of its employees. Regardless, it’s a work in progress that is not expected to be completed for another year, the agency reveals in its response.

In a letter to the IG, the DHS liaison tries to be more diplomatic, though he doesn’t commit to actually issuing rules. He does however, promise that the Office of the Human Capital Officer will at least “provide information regarding drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, using illegal drugs, solicitation of commercial sex, and engaging in notoriously disgraceful conduct to employees who travel outside the United States.” Now the agency created after 9/11 to protect the nation from anther terrorist attack will gather and brainstorm. “The exact manner in which this will be done has not yet been determined,” DHS liaison Jim Crumpacker writes in his letter to DHS IG John Roth. He also warns that “it is important to recognize though that it is not possible to entirely eliminate the potential risk of employee wrongdoing.”

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/06/dhs-ordered-create-off-duty-conduct-policy-secret-service-scandals/feed/0Judicial Watch: Secret Service Expenses for Obama’s 2013 Hawaii Christmas Vacation Cost Taxpayers $316,698.03, Taxpayers Paid Over $8 Million for 17-Day Vacationhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-secret-service-expenses-for-obamas-2013-hawaii-christmas-vacation-cost-taxpayers-316698-03-taxpayers-paid-over-8-million-for-17-day-vacation/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-secret-service-expenses-for-obamas-2013-hawaii-christmas-vacation-cost-taxpayers-316698-03-taxpayers-paid-over-8-million-for-17-day-vacation/#respondTue, 29 Dec 2015 19:46:25 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?post_type=press_release&p=78919(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it recently received expense records from the Department of Homeland Security revealing that Secret Service expenses for the Obama family vacation to Honolulu during December 2013-January 2014 cost taxpayers at least $316,698.03. These new expenses bring the total for the Hawaii Christmas vacation trip to $8,098,060.33. The...

]]>(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it recently received expense records from the Department of Homeland Security revealing that Secret Service expenses for the Obama family vacation to Honolulu during December 2013-January 2014 cost taxpayers at least $316,698.03. These new expenses bring the total for the Hawaii Christmas vacation trip to $8,098,060.33. The Secret Service waited nearly two years to produce the requested numbers to Judicial Watch.

The heavily redacted records were obtained on December 28 in response to a January 6, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. According to the records:

The documents are heavily redacted and the Secret Service is withholding 28 pages in their entirety.

Saying he was “eager to skip town” Obama took his family to Honolulu on December 20, 2013, for a 17-day Christmas vacation. As reported by The Washington Post:

The presidential motorcade ferried the Obamas across Oahu, the state’s most populous island, to the well-to-do oceanfront neighborhood of Kailua, where as in years past they have rented a private home for what this time will be a 17-day holiday vacation.

For the sixth straight year, Obama plans to spend Christmas and New Year’s in Hawaii, gathering with extended family and friends — and, yes, perfecting his golf game.

In March 2014, Judicial Watch released flight expense records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that for this Hawaii vacation the Obamas incurred $7,781,361.30 in flight expenses alone (36.9 hours at $210,877 an hour).

This was the first Judicial Watch FOIA request about Obama’s security costs the Secret Service has answered since July, 2014.

Last month, Judicial Watch separately sued the Department of Homeland Security for ignoring 19 other FOIA requests. The FOIA lawsuit asks the court to enjoin the Secret Service from continuing to withhold responsive documents from Judicial Watch (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:15-cv-01983)).

The known total expense to the American taxpayers thus far for all Obama travel is now $70,880,035.78.

“It seems our lawsuits finally got the attention of the Secret Service. It is easy to see why the Secret Service, reeling from its own scandals, covered up these outrageous expense numbers for just one of Obama’s luxury Christmas vacation,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The $317,000 in Secret Service expenses are only the tip of the iceberg for the true cost of Obama’s 2013 vacation in Hawaii, which has now skyrocketed to $8,098,060. It is nice to know that Obama’s ‘tradition’ of Christmas vacations in Hawaii comes courtesy of overburdened taxpayers.”

Success doesn’t come easy. As JW president, I have the honor of reporting to you our successes in holding our government to account. We beat the Obama IRS and exposed its ongoing corruption. We exposed the deepest Benghazi cover-ups all the way to the Oval Office. We forced the creation of a Select Committee on Benghazi. We forced the Clinton email scandal into the open. And then uncovered even more facts in a way that embarrasses most of the media and Congress (and helped lead to the resignation of John Boehner as Speaker of the House).

Many ask how we are able to achieve so much! The answer is hard work, determination, and smarts. Our successes come because of countless hours by my Judicial Watch colleagues who investigate and litigate against a government that is to transparency what a black hole is to light.

Let’s focus again on the Clinton email scandal. I’ve told you that we have 20 lawsuits that relate to this scandal. It is one thing to say we have 20 lawsuits, and then move on to the latest revelations, but let me tell you how much of a massive effort it is to litigate these lawsuits. For example, you may know that the Obama gang at the State Department (to help the Hillary Clinton gang) has sought to delay 32 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits (of which JW filed 16) – under the guise of a coordination motion with the court.

Finally, before the State Department initiated this action, Judicial Watch asked it to identify the legal basis for the action. It could not do so. The State Department responded, “There is no precise rule that provides for what we are seeking. Since we will be filing a notice with the motion attached in each case, all 17 (sic) judges and 13 plaintiffs will receive notice, and the Court will be able to respond as it sees fit.” See Exhibit 1. It continued, “We will, of course, follow directions from the Court if it turns out a miscellaneous action is inappropriate.” Id. In short, the State Department knew its miscellaneous action had no basis in law – certainly none that it could identify – but proceeded nonetheless.

Imagine facing government lawyers trying to upend all at once 16 federal FOIA lawsuits you filed! Just opposing that one move requires significant effort, but it gets worse. The Obama administration filed motions to stay in nine of these lawsuits, eight of which required response from our legal team. And the briefs opposing this massive stonewall had to be individually tailored to each of our lawsuits, so it required another gargantuan legal effort. For your education, I have linked each opposition motion to document our work on behalf of the American people and the Obama administration’s contempt for transparency. You can read each Judicial Watch legal filing via this web page.

At least three judges already have rejected or put aside the efforts to delay our cases. I believe only one court granted the State Department’s effort to delay accountability and transparency. Next week, Judicial Watch will appear in two different courts on the email issue. Judge Emmet Sullivan has scheduled a hearing for October 6 that we hope will result in further success in forcing answers about where the Clinton-related emails are being secreted from the American people. And Judge Reggie B. Walton has scheduled a hearing for the next day, October 7, that we will hope will result in a protective order (at a minimum) that directs Hillary Clinton and others to preserve (and not delete or destroy) all emails that she has yet to turn over to the government, the FBI, and federal prosecutors.

You can see how the astonishing work of our lawyers, investigators, and other hard-working Judicial Watch employees are the keys to our success. Could anyone other than JW handle this complex, intense, high-stakes, closely-watched litigation and investigation? I think not. Especially since no one can match the loyal support of our 370,000 plus active supporters!

Your JW’s work resulted in all sorts of news this week. The Wall Street Journal confirmed the Clinton email gap story first broken by your JW on September 14 (which the Journal did not acknowledge). Though JW is featured in a Wall Street Journalvideo report featuring yours truly talking about the latest developments.

Again, keep track of all our work at www.JudicialWatch.org and I’ll report to you next week about the latest. In the meantime, please join our cause with a contribution that shows your support for our essential work.

Obama once talked about rewarding friends and punishing enemies. This now seems to be the governing philosophy of the Obama Secret Service, which is reeling from scandals that suggest this president and countless other Americans who depend on the agency are at risk.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In this capacity, he has raised questions about the performance of the Secret Service, while highlighting potential security breaches that could have serious ramifications.

Apparently, the day after a particularly critical congressional hearing on the Secret Service, an assistant director for the Secret Service pushed to have information contained in a personnel file on Chaffetz publicly released, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General Report. That’s a problem, because the information was stored in a restricted database and was required by law to be kept private. Sure enough, the private personnel information was breached in myriad ways, including, evidently, through a leak to the Daily Beast and, the IG confirms, to the Washington Post. The Daily Beast report is awful journalism and is oblivious to the lawlessness of the leak it peddled without question.

Chaffetz had, at one time, applied for a position with the Secret Service, but was rejected. It was during a March 24 House hearing that Chaffetz unloaded on the agency for “its series of security gaffes and misconduct,” as it is explained in a report by the Washington Post.

The entire Inspector General’s report is available here. It reads in part as follows:

We have substantially completed our review of the allegation and have determined that a Secret Service database containing sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) pertaining to Congressman Jason Chaffetz, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was accessed on approximately 60 occasions by Secret Service employees. We have concluded that a vast majority of those who had accessed the information did so in violation of the Privacy Act, as well as Secret Service and DHS policy. Additionally, we identified one individual who acknowledged disclosing information protected by the Privacy Act to an outside source. However because the number of individuals with access to this information was so great, we were unable to identify others who may have disclosed protected information to third parties.

An aggressive prosecutor could bring 60 criminal charges for each time Chaffetz’s privacy was violated by the Secret Service.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secret Service Director Joe Clancy have both apologized to Chaffetz for the incident. Apparently, those apologies included a lie or two. Just today it is reported that Clancy is trying to correct previously false statements about when and what he knew about the leaks.

Who will be held responsible for this attack on Chaffetz? If a powerful congressional chairman isn’t protected from Obama administration retaliation, what about everyday Americans! Will the Obama Justice Department take time away from its anti-local cop obsessions and criminally prosecute any of the Secret Service thugs, including at least 18 supervisors, who violated Chaffetz’s privacy. You probably already know what JW thinks. We are conducting our own investigation of this scandal and will see what other crimes are to be found in yet another compromised federal law enforcement agency.

On reason to check in regularly with Judicial Watch’s Internet site is JW’s Corruption Chronicles blog, which is on the cutting edge of Judicial Watch’s educational journalism efforts. This week, JW’s Corruption Chronicles made waves again with the publication of a report that suggests that our immigration laws are being ignored and twisted by the Obama administration in ways that could lead directly to terrorism. You may want to sit down before reading the article, which I quote in full below:

As if the President Obama’s sweeping amnesty measures haven’t compromised national security enough, the administration let 1,519 “inadmissible” foreigners embroiled in terrorism into the U.S. last year because the crimes were committed “while under duress.”

Before the Obama administration tweaked a federal law last year, these foreign nationals would have been banned from the country for supporting terrorist causes. But under the changes the Secretary of Homeland Security has “discretionary authority” to waive certain grounds of inadmissibility relating to terrorism. We’ve seen this discretionary authority abused in the last few years and in fact, the administration has eliminated a zero tolerance policy for granting asylum or residency to individuals who have provided any sort of terrorism-related support.

The government’s latest available figures for granting asylum or residency to individuals embroiled in terrorist causes are incredibly disturbing, especially since the agency charged with keeping the nation safe, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), appears to downplay the seriousness of the crimes. Judicial Watch obtained the numbers from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) annual report to Congress on the DHS secretary’s application of discretionary authority.

The biggest chunk of exemptions was processed for refugee applicants and lawful permanent resident status, with 806 and 614 respectively. The rest were processed under other DHS programs such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), asylum and relief through a Justice Department initiative. The bottom line is that the U.S. government is allowing them all to stay in the country with rights and benefits afforded to legal residents despite their terrorist connections and associations.

More than half of the candidates rewarded by DHS last year provided material support to terrorist organizations, according to the DHS report. The others received military-type training from a terrorist organization, voluntarily provided medical care to members of a terrorist group and solicited funds or individuals for membership in a terrorist organization. After a case-by-case review, Obama’s DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, determined that the recently admitted terrorists only participated in these activities “while under duress.” So, welcome to America!

This effort was officially launched last year when the administration quietly changed the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), implemented decades ago to govern immigration and citizenship in the United States. The law includes a ban on admitting refugees and asylum seekers who may have provided terrorists with any sort of material support, even the kind that may be considered trivial by some. In other words, the federal law rightfully had a zero tolerance for any kind of involvement with terrorist elements. But a joint effort by DHS and the State Department created an “Exercise of Authority” that allows “an alien who provided limited material support” to a terrorist organization to stay in the U.S. if the powers that be in our government believe they pose no threat.

The administration seems to have a soft spot for terrorists. A few months after the INS change was exposed, a frustrated U.S. senator revealed that the administration appears to have a terrorist “hands off” list that permits individuals with extremist ties to enter the country. The lawmaker obtained the information from internal DHS documents that include communication between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asking whether to admit an individual with ties to various terrorist groups. The suspect had scheduled an upcoming flight into the U.S. and was believed to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close associate and supporter Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

This is astonishing, yet Congress is interested in passing monstrous spending bills to fund this lawlessness rather confront it. Ending this pro-terrorist approach to immigration is especially urgent given the Obama administration’s dangerous plans to allow hundreds of thousands of “refugees” from the Syrian disaster Obama created into the United States. We’ll continue to highlight the existential threat caused by Obama’s pro-terrorist immigration policy. In the meantime, you might want to ask your elected representatives when they are going to start protecting the nation’s security from the Obama administration menace.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/hillary-email-alert/feed/0JW Obtains Secret Service Records on “Operation Moonshine”https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/06/jw-obtains-secret-service-records-on-operation-moonshine/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/06/jw-obtains-secret-service-records-on-operation-moonshine/#respondTue, 02 Jun 2015 14:55:30 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?p=75591Judicial Watch has obtained records from the U.S. Secret Service that shed light into a scandalous operation in which agents were covertly redeployed from the White House compound to protect a close friend of the agency’s director during a dispute with a neighbor. The friend, Lisa Chopey, was also the administrative assistant of former Secret

]]>Judicial Watch has obtained records from the U.S. Secret Service that shed light into a scandalous operation in which agents were covertly redeployed from the White House compound to protect a close friend of the agency’s director during a dispute with a neighbor.

The friend, Lisa Chopey, was also the administrative assistant of former Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, and was embroiled in a discord with a neighbor in her rural community of La Plata, Maryland. At Chopey’s request the agency opened a federal investigation into the neighbor, Mike Mulligan, and surreptitiously redeployed agents assigned to guard the White House to protect her, the records show. Chopey accused Mulligan of “disturbing the peace” by riding noisy “four wheelers” around the neighborhood, according to the records obtained by JW under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The Secret Service reportedly conducted undercover surveillance on Mulligan and his live-in girlfriend, harassed them and ran database checks. The effort was variously referred to as “Operation Moonlight” and “Operation Moonshine,” which is amusing considering drunken Secret Service agents, including a member of President Obama’s protective detail, recently made headlines for crashing a car into a White House barricade following a late-nigh party. Operation Moonshine commenced on July 1, 2011, the Secret Service documents obtained by JW reveal.

The scandalous affair was exposed last year when a mainstream newspaper broke the story that agents in a special surveillance unit were pulled off duty for at least two months to go an hour’s drive to Chopey’s Maryland home. Then Secret Service Director Julia Pierson contacted the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General to request a probe into the matter involving her predecessor. After all, the Secret Service claims to be one of the most elite law enforcement organizations in the world with responsibilities that include protecting national and visiting foreign leaders as well as criminal investigations.

Nevertheless, the Secret Service has been rocked by a number of scandals in the last few years. Besides the drunken agents plowing a government vehicle into a White House security gate, a dozen agents brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms during a 2012 world leaders’ summit attended by President Obama. A mainstream news outlet called the incident a debauchery that caused an uproar and surprised many who previously regarded Secret Service agents as a highly disciplined force of dark sunglasses, earpieces and unreadable facial expressions.

The Secret Service suffered another major blow when a psychologically disturbed man with a knife jumped over the White House fence and actually managed to run across the North Lawn, into the executive mansion and to the entrance of the East Room. Earlier this year a drone flew over the White House and landed in an area that’s supposed to be secure. The device was described as a quadcopter drone and the Secret Service told media outlets that it crash-landed in a tree on the southeast side of the complex around 3 a.m.

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/06/jw-obtains-secret-service-records-on-operation-moonshine/feed/0Documents Show $200,383 in Taxpayer Expenses for Obama’s Denver Fundraising Triphttps://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/obama-denver-costs-2014/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/obama-denver-costs-2014/#respondTue, 30 Dec 2014 18:32:56 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?post_type=press_release&p=70447Including transportation and security, total cost for the July fundraiser totaled $896,277.80 in taxpayer expenses (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealing that expenditures for security provided to President Obama on his fundraising visit to Denver, Colorado, on July 8 and 9, 2014,...

]]>Including transportation and security, total cost for the July fundraiser totaled $896,277.80 in taxpayer expenses

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealing that expenditures for security provided to President Obama on his fundraising visit to Denver, Colorado, on July 8 and 9, 2014, cost taxpayers a total of $200,383.70. The documents came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on October 16, 2014 (Judicial Watch v. United States Secret Service (No. 1:14-cv-01732)).

Obama arrived in Denver, Colorado, on July 8 and spent his first night “letting loose” by playing pool and drinking beer, while “face-to-face with a man wearing a horse-head mask,” according to the Associated Press. Obama’s night was spent relaxing in Colorado, during which he was even offered a hit of weed. Obama was sharply criticized by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) in light of that summer’s border crisis.

Cuellar questioned why Obama would refuse to visit the southwest border of the United States, despite the massive flood of illegal alien children who were swarming into Texas at the time. Cuellar commented, “So, he’s so close to the border. And let me say this. When I saw — and I hate to use the word ‘bizarre,’ but under the circumstances — when he is shown playing pool in Colorado, drinking a beer, and he can’t even go 242 miles to the Texas border?”

The next day Obama spoke at a rally in Denver’s Cheesman Park, where he criticized Republicans and touted a strong economy. The White House billed the event as a policy speech in order to give it the official veneer necessary to bill taxpayers for even a greater portion of Denver fundraising trip. Obama then attended a fundraiser for Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), who opted not attend the event himself. Political candidates, campaigns, and parties reimburse the federal government for only a small portion of the costs of presidential political travel. The Obama White House keeps the formula for such cost-sharing secret.

A recent report by a special panel for the Department of Homeland Security found that the Secret Service “is stretched to and, in many cases, beyond its limits.”

“No one objects to the president having effective security in place when he travels, but the Secret Service is stretched beyond its limits and Obama’s abusive travel practices must be curtailed,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Taxpayers should be informed of the true costs of presidential political fundraising, and it is shameful that we had to sue to get this basic information. This president has become a master at playing politics at taxpayer expense. Judicial Watch intends to continue exposing this abuse – even if it means filing more lawsuits in federal court to get the information.”

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/obama-denver-costs-2014/feed/0Judicial Watch Obtains Records Revealing $937,487.94 in Security Expenses for Obamas’ 2013 Vacations to Honolulu and Aspenhttps://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obtains-records-revealing-937487-94-security-expenses-obamas-2013-vacations-honolulu-aspen/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obtains-records-revealing-937487-94-security-expenses-obamas-2013-vacations-honolulu-aspen/#commentsTue, 07 Oct 2014 12:42:13 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?post_type=press_release&p=55916 Judicial Watch announced today it has obtained records from the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing the security costs for the Obama Family’s 2013 vacation in Honolulu and Martha’s Vineyard, and the flight cost for the First Lady’s 2014 ski trip to Aspen, CO, came to $972,450.24 in taxpayer-paid vacation expenses.

]]>New records also reveal Michelle Obama’s 2014 Aspen vacation cost $34,962.30 in transportation alone. Total tab for all three vacations now stands at $6,223,074.24 for flight and security costs.

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it has obtained records from the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing the security costs for the Obama Family’s 2013 vacation in Honolulu and Martha’s Vineyard, and the flight cost for the First Lady’s 2014 ski trip to Aspen, CO, came to $972,450.24 in taxpayer-paid vacation expenses. The documents regarding the vacations to Hawaii, Massachusetts and Colorado came in response to three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed on August 8, 2013, September 6, 2013, and February 18, 2014, respectively.

Transportation for the First Lady’s 2014 ski-trip in Aspen, CO cost taxpayers $34,962.30 (Judicial Watch is still awaiting security costs for the Aspen trip.)

In February 2014, Judicial Watch released flight expense records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that President Obama incurred $5,250,624 in flight expenses alone for his 2013 vacations to Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard. Adding in the newly released expense records, that brings total cost to the taxpayers for the two Obama family 2013 vacations and the First Lady’ 2014 Aspen ski trip to $6,223,074.24, not including the Aspen security costs.

From December, 21, 2012, to January, 5, 2013, the Obama family spent their Christmas vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they stayed at the luxurious 6,000 square-foot, $7.9 million Kailua home they had rented in 2011. From August 11 – 17, 2013, the Obama family spent an extended week vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where they stayed at the plush $7.6 million home of David Schulte, founder of the private equity firm Chilmark Partners and major contributor to Obama’s campaigns. These two vacations cost a total of $937,487.94 in security alone.

“The Obamas continually abuse the public trust and raid the taxpayers’ coffers for unnecessarily luxurious and incessant vacations and travel,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The very fact that we repeatedly have to file Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits to obtain this information reveals that the ‘most transparent administration in history’ knows that its behavior is extravagant and, therefore, seeks to cover it up. One can only imagine how this unnecessary travel saps the budget and morale of a Secret Service that cannot even secure the White House complex, and had trouble keeping the president secure even when he’s traveling on important government business.”

According to records obtained by Judicial Watch through FOIA requests and lawsuits, the Obamas and Bidens have spent more than $40 million taxpayer dollars on trips since 2009 up through the president’s most recent Palm Springs and Key Largo golf outings, which cost the taxpayers $2,952,278 in flight expenses. The most lavish expenditure on record was for the Obamas’ 2013 Africa trip and Honolulu vacation, which cost taxpayers $15,885,585.30 in flight expenses alone. The single largest expense for accommodations was for Michelle Obama’s side-trip to Dublin, Ireland, during the 2013 G-8 conference in Belfast, when she and her entourage booked 30 rooms at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel, with the first lady staying in the 1500 square-foot Princess Grace suite at a cost of $3,500 a night. The total cost to taxpayers for the Obamas’ Ireland trip was $7,921,638.66.

Judicial Watch Sues Secret Service, Defense Department for Records Detailing Use of Government Funds for President’s, First Lady’s Lavish Trips throughout 2013

Costly Michelle Obama outings to Ireland and England; vacations to Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard; among trips being questioned in FOIA lawsuit

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that on January 13, 2014, it filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Defense to obtain records detailing the amount of government funds spent on seven separate lavish trips taken by Barack Obama and the Obama family throughout 2013 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Secret Service (No. 1:14-cv-00046)), (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Defense(No. 1:14 – cv- 00047)).

The Secret Service FOIA lawsuit, pursuant to a series of FOIA requests from June to August 2013, seeks information from the Secret Service about “the use of U.S. Government funds to provide security and other services” to:

“First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama, and any companions on a June 2013 trip to Ireland.”

“President Barack Obama and any companions on a June – July 2013 trip to Africa.”

“First Lady Michelle Obama and any companions on a Summer 2012 trip to London, England for the Olympics.”

“President Barack Obama and any companions on a December 2012 trip to Honolulu, Hawaii.”

“President Barack Obama and any companions on an August 2013 trip to California.”

“President Barack Obama and any companions on an August 2013 trip to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.”

The Secret Service failed to substantively respond to these FOIA requests, and has effectively shut down Judicial Watch’s inquiries about First Family travel.

On January 13, Judicial Watch filed a separate FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense seeking further “records concerning First Lady Michelle Obama’s June 2013 trip to Ireland.”

The current FOIA lawsuits are part of a continuing effort by Judicial Watch to obtain information about taxpayer funding of lavish vacations for the president and his family.

“The Obama administration is in cover-up mode on the costs of the Obamas’ travel.The Secret Service has, in contemptuous violation of law, simply stopped answering our Freedom of Information inquiries,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It seems that our ‘king’ does not want taxpayers to know how much he’s spending on his unnecessary travel.”

]]>https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/lavishtrips2013/feed/1Judicial Watch Statement on Court Ruling on the Secret Service’s White House Visitor Logshttps://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/fitton115282statement/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/fitton115282statement/#respondFri, 30 Aug 2013 17:03:07 +0000https://www.judicialwatch.org/?post_type=press_release&p=22400U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Rules White House visitor logs off-limits to the America People (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued a statement today in response to the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which found that U.S. Secret Service’s White House visitor logs for people...

U.S. Court of AppealsJudge Rules White House visitor logs off-limits to the America People

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued a statement today in response to the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which found that U.S. Secret Service’s White House visitor logs for people visiting the president’s office are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Secret Service (No. 11-5282)):

“A president that doesn’t want Americans, under law, to know who his visitors are is a president who doesn’t want to be accountable.The appellate court decision punches another hole in the Freedom of Information Act, the law which allows Americans to know what their government is up to.We are strongly considering an appeal.The legal gymnastics in this unprecedented decision shows that President Obama is not the only one willing to rewrite laws without going through Congress. And this legal fight, in which President Obama is fighting tooth and nail against full disclosure under law of his White House visitors, further exposes his big lie that his administration is the most transparent in history. The silver lining is that at least the appellate court opened up the records of tens of thousands White House visits that Obama was trying to keep secret.”